WASHINGTON (AP) -- The top Democrat in the Senate said Tuesday that lawmakers should redouble their efforts to replace looming across-the-board cuts to the Pentagon and domestic programs with alternative spending cuts and tax hikes.

The comments by Majority Leader Harry Reid came amid increasing resignation among both Democrats and Republicans that the across-the-board cuts will soon take effect. The cuts were an element of the so-called fiscal cliff that was partially averted this month with the extension of Bush-era tax cuts.

But the reprieve from spending cuts of 7 percent to the Pentagon and 5 percent to domestic programs was only temporary and will expire March 1. The cuts are known as sequestration in Washington-speak.

Republican controlling the House had led the battle to avert sequestration last year by passing replacement cuts, while Democrats put their faith in high-level budget talks involving President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, -- which failed -- and in later, successful negotiations between Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

But House Republicans now say that the across-the-board cuts provide incentive to Democrats to agree to a broader budget pact and they appear willing to let them take effect -- despite having issued dire warnings just last year of their impact on the Pentagon.

Reid said the cuts should be replaced "in short increments" with spending cuts and revenues like repealing oil and gas subsidies that were discussed in earlier negotiations.

"There are many low-hanging pieces of fruit out there that Republicans have said they agreed on previously," Reid said. There's a lot of things we can do out there, and we're going to make an effort to make sure that there is -- sequestration is -- involves revenue."

Republicans tend to represent states that have more at stake if the cuts take effects. Many GOP-dominated southern states, for instance, have major defense installations. And defense hawks warn that the cuts could cripple the military as problems fester around the world in places like Afghanistan, Iran and Syria.

"If you believe the Defense Department, (and Defense Secretary Leon) Panetta, we're destroying the finest military in the world at a time when we need it most," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. "I can't explain it. It is beyond my ability to explain it to people."

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What The GOP Doesn't Want You To Know About The Deficit

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The deficit has ballooned not because of specific spending measures, but because of the recession. The deficit more than doubled between 2008 and 2009, as the economy was in free fall, since laid-off workers paid less in taxes and needed more benefits. The deficit then shrank in 2010 and 2011.

Republicans frequently have blamed the $787 billion stimulus for the national debt, but, when all government spending is taken into account, the stimulus frankly wasn't that big. In contrast, the U.S. will have spent nearly $4 trillion on wars in the Middle East by the time those conflicts end, according to a recent report by Brown University. The Bush tax cuts have cost nearly $1.3 trillion over 10 years.

When George W. Bush took office, the federal government was running a surplus of $86 billion. When he left, that had turned into a $642 billion deficit.

Last year's federal budget deficit was 12 percent lower than in 2009, according to the Office of Management and Budget.The deficit is projected to shrink even more over the next several years.

The interest rate on 10-year Treasury bonds is negative, according to the Treasury Department. Investors are even paying us for 30-year Treasury bonds, when adjusted for inflation.

Conservative commentators have been warning for years that investors will run away from Treasury bonds because of the national debt. So far it's not happening. Interest rates on Treasury bonds continue to hover at historic lows.

Republicans have blasted the Affordable Care Act as "budget-busting." But health care reform actually reduces the deficit, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The U.S. government is borrowing much less from foreign countries than before the recession, according to government data cited by Paul Krugman. That is because the U.S. private sector is financing our bigger deficits.

Defense spending constituted 20 percent of federal spending last year, or $718 billion, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. This adds up to 41 percent of the world's defense spending, according to Bloomberg TV anchor Adam Johnson. Mitt Romney has vowed to not cut defense spending if elected president.

Health insurance, including Medicare and Medicaid, constituted 21 percent of federal spending last year. In contrast, education constituted 2 percent of federal spending. Meanwhile, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have promised not to change Medicare for Americans age 55 and older.

The federal budget deficit ballooned under Ronald Reagan, and that may be just the way Republicans like it. Some Republican thinkers have proposed "starving the beast": that is, cutting taxes in order to use larger deficits to justify spending cuts later. Since Republicans ultimately want lower taxes and a smaller government, what better way is there to cut spending than to make it look urgent and necessary?